{"id":86450,"date":"2021-09-29T08:01:19","date_gmt":"2021-09-29T07:01:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=86450"},"modified":"2021-09-29T08:01:19","modified_gmt":"2021-09-29T07:01:19","slug":"govt-to-release-fresh-debtors-list-in-november","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/govt-to-release-fresh-debtors-list-in-november\/","title":{"rendered":"Govt to release fresh debtors\u2019 list in November"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The federal government will publish fresh list of indebted oil firms that will back anti-corruption agencies including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to go after the defaulting organisations.<\/div>\n
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The indebtedness of 77 oil and gas companies to the Federal Government is now N2.66tn, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) said on Tuesday.<\/div>\n
NEITI\u2019s Executive Secretary, Orji Ogbonnaya-Orji, who said this in Abuja while speaking on the status of EITI implementation in Nigeria, said the 77 firms carried out their operations across the country.<\/div>\n
Ogbonnaya-Orji explained that the N2.66tn debt arose from failure to remit petroleum profit tax, company income tax, education tax, value added tax, withholding tax, royalty and concession on rentals.<\/div>\n
He explained that the total liabilities of the 77 companies were captured in the agencies\u2019 2019 independent audit report of the oil and gas sector.<\/div>\n
Ogbonnaya-Orji said, \u201cThe NEITI reports based on findings in its 2019 audit of the oil and gas sector show that oil and gas companies in Nigeria owe government about $6.48bn, which equals N2.66tn at today\u2019s exchange rate of N410.35.<\/div>\n
\u201cA breakdown of the figures show that a total of $143.99m is owed as petroleum profit taxes, $1.089bn as company income taxes and $201.69m as education tax.<\/div>\n
\u201cOthers include $18.46m and \u00a3972,000 as Value Added Tax, $23.91m and \u00a3997,000 as withholding tax, $4.357bn as royalty oil, $292.44m as royalty gas, while $270.187m and $41.86m were unremitted gas flare penalties and concession rentals respectively.\u201d<\/div>\n
The NEITI boss said the disclosure was important in view of the government\u2019s current search for revenue to address the demand for steady power, good roads, quality education, fight against insurgency and job creation.<\/div>\n
\u201cA comparative analysis of what this huge sum of N2.66tn can contribute to economic development shows that it could have covered the entire capital budget of the Federal Government in 2020 or even be used to service the Federal Government\u2019s debt of $2.68bn in 2020,\u201d Ogbonnaya-Orji stated.<\/div>\n
He added, \u201cIn 2021, if the money is recovered the N2.66tn could fund about 46 per cent of Nigeria\u2019s 2021 budget deficit of N5.6tn and is even higher than the entire projected oil revenue for 2021.\u201d<\/div>\n
This, he said, was why NEITI had decided to work with the government to provide relevant information and data to support efforts at recovering this money.<\/div>\n
\u201cWe therefore appeal to these companies to ensure that they remit the various outstanding sums against them before the conclusion of the 2020 NEITI audit cycle to the relevant government agencies responsible for collection and remittances of such revenue,\u201d he stated.<\/div>\n
The transparency agency boss cautioned oil firms that NEITI would no longer watch while these debts continued to remain in its reports unaddressed.<\/div>\n
He stressed that NEITI would provide all necessary information and data to sister agencies and anti-corruption organisations whose responsibilities were to recover the debts into government coffers.<\/div>\n
On whether the agency was partnering law enforcement agencies to recover the N2.66tn from the 77 companies, Ogbonnaya-Orji replied in the affirmative.<\/div>\n
\u201cWe will also share the information and data with our partner anti-corruption agencies with whom we have signed MoUs,\u201d he said.<\/div>\n
He explained that in the past seven months, NEITI had held series of meetings and consultations with diverse stakeholder groups involved in the EITI process.<\/div>\n
He said, \u201cThe outcomes of these engagements have culminated in the signing of Memorandum of Understanding with some of them to support NEITI in the implementation of the EITI in Nigeria.<\/div>\n
\u201cMoUs were signed notably with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission; Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission; and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit.\u201d<\/div>\n
Ogbonnaya-Orji also stated that agency was strengthening the powers and functions of NEITI through an amendment of the NEITI Law enacted since 2007.<\/div>\n
He said the amendment was to align the law with EITI emerging issues, the new Petroleum Industry Act and ongoing reforms in the industry.<\/div>\n
He stated that a gap analysis was developed on the present law and a draft review sent to the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.<\/div>\n
Ogbonnaya-Orji said his agency had received commitment from the SGF\u2019s office on the matter.<\/div>\n
He also stated that the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation was working with NEITI on the subject.<\/div>\n
Officials at NEITI stated that the debtor firms had been informed to pay up, while the anti-corruption agencies had been notified about the situation and the need to recover the fund.<\/div>\n
This came as the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria charged the Federal Government to collect the assets of perpetual debtor firms through the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria.<\/div>\n
The Deputy Director\/Head Communications and Advocacy, NEITI, Obiageli Onuorah, told our correspondent that informing and urging the debtor companies to pay up was the first phase of the recovery process.<\/div>\n
She said, \u201cThe first phase is what we are on right now. We\u2019ve alerted the companies to pay back. By the time we conclude our 2020 audit report, we will now check to see if they have paid.<\/div>\n
\u201cThe 2019 audit was concluded in December 2020 and presented to the public in May this year, as the affected debtor companies were also notified.<\/div>\n
\u201cNow, the 2020 audit report will validate if these payments have been made by the companies. Our audit reports are published annually. Plans are on to release the 2020 report by November this year.\u201d<\/div>\n
Onuorah added, \u201cSo it is only when that report is concluded that we can verify or confirm that they have paid or not. And after that we will now have meetings with the anti-corruption agency and commence the process of recovery.<\/div>\n
\u201cBut for now, we are just alerting them that these monies need to be paid back into government coffers. So we can only confirm if these monies have been paid when we conclude the 2020 audit report, which we intend to release by November this year.\u201d<\/div>\n
When probed further to give some of the names of the debtor companies, Onuorah replied, \u201cNo we cannot, because I can give you the name of a company and the company that I gave you its name has paid back.<\/div>\n
\u201cThis is because they (the companies) know that we are pushing for them to pay back this money. So if I give you the name of a company and it was discovered that the company paid back in July, you know it won\u2019t be right.<\/div>\n
\u201cSo until the audit report for 2020 is concluded, then we can compile the names of all the outstanding payments again and commence the process of recovery.\u201d<\/div>\n
General Secretary, PENGASSAN, Lumumba Okugbawa, argued that it was unfair for oil firms to owe the country such amount at a time when Nigeria was looking for funds to boost the economy.
\nHe encouraged the government to charge AMCON to take over the assets of debtors who may have refused to repay their debts.<\/div>\n
Okugbawa said, \u201cThey (government) should recover the fund. They have AMCON and all other agencies. For any organisation that is owing and cannot pay AMCON should take it over.<\/div>\n
\u201cIt is also part of governance to make sure that people who are owing should pay up their debts because that is what is used to sustain the economy.<\/div>\n
\u201cAnd it is a bad business strategy that you allow people to owe you such an amount at a time when the country is looking for money to fund its budget.\u201d
\nOkugbawa, however, encouraged the defaulting oil companies to comply with the demands of NEITI and pay up their debts.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The federal government will publish fresh list of indebted oil firms that will back anti-corruption agencies including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to go after the defaulting organisations.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":86452,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nGovt to release fresh debtors\u2019 list in November - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/govt-to-release-fresh-debtors-list-in-november\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Govt to release fresh debtors\u2019 list in November - 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